AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $5.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on AXTI. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Monday, April 8th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of AXT from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $5.38.

AXT Stock Performance

NASDAQ AXTI opened at $3.66 on Friday. AXT has a one year low of $1.89 and a one year high of $5.64. The company has a market capitalization of $161.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.15 and a beta of 2.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.94.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $22.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.00 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 21.01% and a negative return on equity of 7.36%. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AXT

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in AXT by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AXT during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in AXT in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. James Investment Research Inc. purchased a new position in AXT in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in AXT during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, high-speed data transfer in data centers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, consumer devices, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, thermo-photovoltaics, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.